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Somolian Pirates will continue piracy until they are wealthy enough to lift the country out of poverty. Their waters are no good thanks to multinational dumping
by Aetius 17y ago
Somolian Pirates will continue piracy until they are wealthy enough to lift the country out of poverty. Their waters are no good thanks to multinational dumping and overfishing, their land isn't arable, and their infrastructure is nil. So, this really is the only option. It is either death at Sea or a very precarious existence at home. They have every incentive to keep taxing the waters until there is an equilibrium of military cost to deploy enough ships and men to stop them vs. piracy ransom costs. It will be a long time (it costs many millions of dollars to deploy standing warships) before this equilibrium is reached.
- rdtsc 17y agoIt is interesting that the dumping angle is not much discussed in the mainstream media. I was aware of it, I just didn't know it is that bad. I guess nobody looks at it from their point of view. Also, the pirates don't really have a handy PR agency to promote their point. At the same time, I wonder if they use the 'dumping' as an excuse to pirate. Pirating is dangerous but it is also quite profitable. They take over un-armed ships, hold them for a couple of months, then millions of dollars land in their lap. It is certainly more profitable than fishing or growing things.